Padang Conference (29 August 1680)

Properties2
tagsevent, treaty, diplomacy, colonial, dutch, achehnese, sumatra
aliasesPadang Conference of 1680, Algemeen verbond van 29 augustus 1680, Eeuwig verbond van Padang 1680, General bond of the Westkust 1680, Verdrag van 29 augustus 1680

6 min read

The Padang Conference of 29 August 1680 was the assembly at Padang of the principal regents of the West Coast of Sumatra under the presidency of commissioner Laurens Pit de Jonge, at which a new general bond (algemeen verbond) of “perpetual peace” was sworn between the Compagnie and the Westkust chiefs. Recorded in Dr. F. W. Stapel’s Geschiedkundige Atlas van Nederland as the high-water mark of the Painansch Contract system: the moment at which, under the combined weight of Dutch military force and Menangkabau consent, the entire Westkust was brought under a single collective treaty with the Compagnie.

Background: the Westkust in 1680

The Painansch Contract of 6 July 1663 had been progressively extended — to Baros in 1668, to Singkel in 1672 — but the Westkust remained unsettled. Atjehsche influence continued to surface periodically: in 1675 the Atjehers again “began to play an active role on various places” (begonnen op verschillende plaatsen weer een actieve rol te spelen), and the riposte required Compagnie expeditions in 1676 and 1678. By 1679 a pseudo-panglima-radja had been arrested at Baros and transported to the Cape of Good Hope with his chief followers.

The year 1680 opened with a change at the top of Menangkabau. On 24 February 1680 the commandeur Melchior Hurdt at Padang received an embassy from the uplands, announcing “that a new ‘keizer’ in the Menangkabau realm had succeeded; that he had the old contracts, ‘concluded with his predecessor’ confirmed, and at the same time given order ‘to confirm commander Hurdt in the honour-title of imperial stadtholder’” (dat een nieuwe ‘keijser’ in het Menangkabausche rijk was opgevolgd; dat hij de oude contracten, ‘met sijn voorsaat aangegaan’ liet bevestigen, en tevens opdracht gegeven had, ‘den commandeur Hurt in de eertitul van keyserlycke stadthouder te confirmeeren’).

The faithful allies had however for some time been carrying on a heavy struggle against the rebels of Paoeh, and when Hurdt’s own attempt to break them failed, Batavia decided to send a commissioner.

Pit’s commission

Laurens Pit de Jonge departed on 28 May 1680 with two ships, fitted out above the ordinary equipment with 170 soldiers. Pit’s commission was both political and economic. Politically he was to bring the Westkust to a definitive settlement. Economically he was to investigate “the causes of the poor results of the gold exploitation at Salido, and at the same time the commercial bookkeeping of Hurdt” (de oorzaken van de povere resultaten van de goudexploitatie te Salido, en tevens naar de commercieele boekhouding van Hurdt). Hurdt was in fact suspended by Pit and sent back to Batavia — a side-effect of the conference that should not be overlooked when assessing the operation’s internal politics.

The military preliminaries

The military preliminaries made the conference possible. On arrival at Padang and landing of the troops, Pit’s force, “reinforced with 5000 Padangers, made such an impression that the principal rebels of Paoeh and their adherents of Kotta Tengah at once came to beg pardon” (versterkt met 5000 Padangers, zoo’n indruk, dat al dadelijk de voornaamste rebellen van Paoeh en hun aanhangers van Kotta-tengah vergiffenis kwamen verzoeken). On the Koran they swore on 24 July 1680 a solemn oath of loyalty and obedience. On 5 August they renewed their submission and asked to be taken back into the general bond. On 13 August envoys came from “evil-willing mountain peoples” who had previously burned the Compagnie’s lodge at Priaman, and were likewise admitted, “saving however ‘a pecuniary fine of 1000 rijksdaalders’” (behoudens ‘een pecuniek amende van 1000 rijexdaalders’).

The conference: 29 August 1680

The general assembly followed. “Finally on 29 August 1680 a meeting took place at Padang with the principal regents of the West Coast, at which a new general bond was founded and sworn, and all ‘bound themselves holily and faithfully for ever and eternally, yes firmly and unchangeably, to be and to remain Compagnie’s friends and true allies’” (Ten slotte had 29 Augustus 1680 te Padang een bijeenkomst plaats met de hoofdregenten van de Westkust, waarbij een nieuw algemeen verbond werd opgericht en bezworen, en allen zich ‘heylighlyck ende getrouwelyck voor altoos ende eeuwighlyck, ja vast ende onveranderlyck, verbinden te sullen zijn ende te blyven Compagnie’s vrunden ende waere bondtgenoten’).

The bond also contained a constitutional clause: “On the death of one of the princes or regents no successor may be chosen, ‘otherwise than with foreknowledge and consent of the Compagnie’” (Bij overlijden van een der vorsten of regenten zal geen opvolger mogen worden gekozen, ‘anders als met een voorweeten en toestemmingh van de Compagnie’) — an explicit Dutch veto over Westkust successions.

The signatories

The new contract was signed by:

The formulation is significant: the Compagnie is signing with the principal regents collectively, not piecemeal. Where the Painansch Contract of 1663 named four contracting chiefs (Indrapoera, Painan, Padang, Tikoe(s)) the 1680 conference was an assembly of the whole Westkust.

The sequel

The 1680 conference did not end the Westkust troubles. At Baros there remained dissension between two governors, one of whom — radja Ilir — was a determined opponent of the Compagnie; he submitted in January 1681. Singkel signed a parallel contract on 12 February 1681. The rulers of Bajang and Indrapoera renewed the cession of Salido and Poeloe Tjingkoek on 27 February 1681. On 10 March 1681 the prince and regents of Painan “declared ‘from their absolute power and private jurisdiction to transfer and to convey, and to give in free ownership, as they do hereby, the negorye, the mountain and the whole land of Pynen … with all the appurtenances and dependencies thereof’” (verklaarden ‘yt onse absolute maght en prive jurisdictie op te draegen en transporteren, en in vryen eygendom over te geven, gelijck doen mits desen, de negorye, het gebergte ende het geheele landt van Pynen … met alle de ap- en dependentiën van dien’). Tikoe had to be reduced again in 1683–1684.

But the 1680 conference is the legal and political high-water mark of the Painansch Contract system. It is the moment at which the Westkust passed, in form, from an Acehnese suzerainty shared with the Compagnie to a Dutch protectorate exercised in the name of a Menangkabau sovereign who had explicitly authorised the Dutch commandeur to act as his imperial stadtholder.

See Also

Source

De Koloniën, by Dr. F. W. Stapel, in Geschiedkundige Atlas van Nederland (‘s-Gravenhage: Martinus Nijhoff, 1931), kaart 19, blz. 20–22 (tekst bij blad 4: Atjeh en de Westkust van Sumatra in 1684).

Graph View

Backlinks